114 Actions

Non-heroic Post-apocalyptic systemsThat said, my experience with AW is pretty limited; my assertions are only from my impressions from reading the rulebook and that very limited play: all I mean to point out is that "movie logic" does not automatically NOT mean "gritty". There are lots and lots and lots of gritty movies. Especially in the post-apoc genre.

Feb20

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Non-heroic Post-apocalyptic systemsI don't agree that you should think of AW in those terms. An unwounded AW PC could take a shotgun blast to the face, sure. They can also die horribly. The point is that the action doesn't de-facto have mechanical consequences, it has narrative consequences, and that doesn't discount AW from being used for non-heroic-style play. What it means is that is that the gaming group needs to get on the same page with respect to genre expectations. Know the story you're telling.

Oct1

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Edge mechanic of NumeneraIt might help to also call out that you can only use Edge for a single stat once per action, so if you divide up your Effort stat (to reduce attack difficulty, and increase damage), you can only apply Edge to one of those applications. Keep in mind, as well, that the amount of Edge you can apply to an action is bounded by your Effort levels: if you can only get two levels of Effort on an action, then having an Edge of 6 or more is not useful.

Converting a 3.5e Campaign (Shackled City) to a 4e CampaignWhich is all a roundabout way of saying, when approaching monster "conversion", use three operative principles: look for theme and story, choose something that's close from the 4e canon, and tailor appropriate to the PC's level in 4e -- don't attempt to do careful power-level balancing in your conversions. It just doesn't matter.

Feb22

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Converting a 3.5e Campaign (Shackled City) to a 4e CampaignPaizo tends to be a bit more adventuresome with novel Monsters in places than most. But I stuck this firmly into the "Don't sweat the details" category. Amongst all the 4e Monster Manuals there is plenty of choice: choose the closest match and build encounters that make sense for the challenge you want to throw at the PCs. I did not bother at all to directly convert monsters: in some cases, I built my own, but I nearly always started with a close match and customized them a bit, rather than attempt a pure conversion.

Efficient / flexible terrain - Creating a clear hex grid@user1637 Very well in the short term. I've been using the system for years, without cleaning with alcohol or anything, just a paper towel to erase, and I've only maybe got the very faintest of discoloration. Like white boards, don't let it sit too long is key (i.e. not for several hours, certainly not overnight).